Community Development Project

closed

The Community Development Project will improve project-supported social, and economic services within poor rural communities. The components will: 1) finance small-scale subprojects generated by the communities, through the Fonds d'Intervention pour le Developpement (FID), in a participatory rural appraisal process. Except for roads, and complex irrigation systems executed by the FID, investments will be executed by community associations, whose capacity will be strengthened through training provision. Those communes, selected based on poverty indicators, will be improved through community mobilization, and consultation processes, to be able to identify specific investments, and contribute as well, a percentage of its costs, in materials, labor, and money. Financing of consulting services will be provided for technical aspects of the investment, and training will ensure the adequacy of the investment cycle; 2) support capacity building activities for local government officials, and personnel of commune governments. Training in community participation, mobilization, and in drafting communal development plans will be provided, in addition to accounting, fiscal budgeting, and procurement training; 3) transfer funds to communes for financing activities in their communal development plans, with full powers over project execution to commune governments; and, 4) finance the operation of the FID entity, which will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of activities financed by the project.